Dyche bristles at 'nonsense' over his contract terms

No wonder the players are clueless.

"Nor should the fans know everything" will come across as a bit condescending to some people but, like Benitez got Rondon, Dyche has been left to extend the contracts of two ageing full-backs, because the club is in a perilous financial position.

The good news is that, this time last season, although we didn't know it, Everton were on –8 points, so let's look on the bright side because hopefully Moshiri will soon be gone and this has got to be the most important thing right now.

Whilst this is a message of defiance and togetherness, there is no doubt in my mind that the club will have to take action if the fans collectively turn on him. If results and performances continue as they have done, it's just a matter of time. How much time is the big question.

Undoubtedly a significant minority has already decided on the issue, but when will be the tipping point for the rest of us? In my view from being in the ground, it's close. Being in Goodison has been pretty joyless for most of his tenure. I thought that the Bournemouth game was a turning point until the 87th minute, but no.

If we get beat by Leicester and Palace, then the banners are going to be out against Newcastle. Then – barring a miracle – it's over for Dyche!

Dyche working under 'very difficult' circumstances – Everton chief

Thankfully, their offices are only a metre apart, they get on gang busters and have a right laugh in the face of adversity like the lads from Lethal Weapon with both regularly taking turns to recite the line “I'm too old for this shit”.

Also rather comforting to hear the Director of Football say it's as crap to work for the club as it is to support it.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Radio Merseyside's Giulia Bould, Thelwell said:

"Sean and I work very closely together, our offices are a metre apart so we are talking regularly and consistently about what things we can do, how we can use the resources we have available to try and make things better going forwards.

"Sean has a responsibility for the preparation and performance of the team and fundamentally the results. My responsibility is the support services that sit around that. It is about us talking through some of the performance problems we have got."

Dyche's contract expires at the end of the season and, despite the wretched start, club sources have told BBC Sport the 53-year-old's job is currently safe.

Thelwell added: "I can promise everybody that there is no stone being left unturned in terms of trying to rectify our current situation. He [Dyche] is working under very difficult circumstances.

"We still have ownership and financial situations to resolve so that makes it very difficult for a manager when we want to take that next step."

"After the points deductions, we were very nervous of making sure we didn't fall foul of those problems again," said Thelwell. "I was pleased we were able to resolve that fairly early in the market with the sales of Lewis Dobbin and Ben Godfrey which helped us with PSR.

"It is a worry because you don't want to start the Premier League with points deductions hanging over your head. I am glad to say we got on the right side of that and plan effectively as possible.

"I would not be out of place saying every sporting director in the Premier League finds it very frustrating. The regulations are there for the right reasons but perhaps are not doing what they should do and that is to support the clubs and league to be better.

"Without question, Jarrad was a risk throughout the window and certainly before the end of the financial year because people thought we were having to do business to comply with our PSR problem.

"Our situation is such that we can't have a perfect picture, if we want to keep someone like Jarrad then we have to do something else to ensure that we resolve our financial problem. We are all committed to that and delighted that he stayed."

Meanwhile, midfielder Dele Alli continues to train with the club despite his contract expiring in the summer but it remains to be seen whether the 28-year-old will be offered a new deal.

Asked if Alli will be seen in an Everton shirt again, Thelwell replied: "We very much hope so. He has worked very hard on the pitch to get himself into a place where he can physically get to play.

"We are in a good space now with Tottenham, we have an agreement with those guys about what happens next if we sign him and he would dearly love to play for Everton in the Premier League and we would dearly love that to happen as well because the boy has had a very difficult time."

Everton travel to newly promoted Leicester on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 BST) in a huge clash at the wrong end of the division.

The Toffees also host Crystal Palace and head to Ipswich in an important set of fixtures over the next four weeks.
Thelwell has urged disgruntled supporters to "stick with us" in what is a "difficult time" for the club.

"We are all feeling the pain that they are feeling but we need to stay calm," he said. "Stay patient and we hope we are able to resolve some of these problems. What we are all fighting for is a team that Evertonians can be proud of.

"It is still very difficult to work at this football club and I appreciate it is very difficult to support this club at this moment in time but we only get through this if we stick together."

He got £3M (at least) being sacked by Pace at Burnley.

I agree with you, Tony, he spoke well and clearly. It couldn't be more clear if he'd have spelt it out.

Maybe some people are too thick to understand it.

Yep.

Scandalous doesn't come close and I have only heard a few snippets of what went on and is continuing even now at Finch Farm, things that, as far as I know, the manager and DoF have no control over.

Everton and Dyche have started the season badly with one big reason being injuries. Dyche has to hold his hands up for the Bournemouth collapse which still hurts.

I'm staying behind him until we have a full complement of fit players then see how we shape up.

Yes, I know it's hard now and I'm obviously in the minority… but I'm giving Dyche more time.

Dyche is the next Sam Allardice going around clubs…
he couldn't coach an under-11 side.

Bye-Bye, Sean.

So I think it is a positive that there is a sense of 'circling the wagons' in Thelwell's comments. The last thing we need is an internal blame game on top of all the other instability. But it would be good to see this defiance carried onto the pitch...

I don't know of any of the star managers in football who could improve our position given the injuries etc that Dyche has had to contend with.

Dyche is culpable for the Bournemouth shambles due to his substitutions… but that's been done to death on here. I prefer to think of the good football and goals that we played prior to the 87th minute implosion. And the fact that we gave a good Villa side a game and didn't just roll over.

Even now, we're scratching around for fit players for tomorrow. And please, I don't want to be submerged in a tsunami of bloody facts pointing out his failures!

Dyche's failures, not Dave's!!

Moshiri should be ashamed that he has left them in such a position whereby they are unjustly condemned for his failings.

That's not to say both men have been good at what they do, as such Dyche has been, rightly in my opinion, criticized for his decision-making on team selection, subs, tactics etc. But in the context on what other things they have had to deal with, they have kept us up.

Dyche may not be everyone's cup of tea, not mine certainly, but as frustrating his management is, it has worked so far. His style of management hasn't changed since Burnley, the same style has worked up to this season.

The results to date would have seen many a manager dismissed but there appears to be little appetite by Moshiri to actually do anything other than sell. So nothing will change, I believe, until Moshiri has gone, then everything is on the table once more.

If only football was a game of 87 minutes but it's not, it's 90 minutes plus stoppage time. The job of Dyche is to coach these players and one of those coaching roles is to keep them switched on and alert until the final whistle.

He failed and he keeps failing because he's only got one way of playing. It's ugly and unpleasant to watch, which I could just about stomach if it yielded results but it also isn't working and hasn't by and large worked since Christmas.

It doesn't take a genius to see that we need an extra body in the middle of the park as we get constantly over-run or that playing your full-backs so narrow gives the opposition a constant out-ball which they continue to exploit and which leads to them scoring goals.

Dyche needs to concentrate on what's going on on the pitch and stop worrying about the ‘noise' outside. At the moment, what's going on on the pitch isn't working and, unless he changes it, it will continue to fail.

He's the 6th highest paid manager in the Premier League producing the 20th best results — he's seriously under-performing, regardless of what else is going on at the club.

I saw the article myself on the BBC Sport site and thought it was a frank and open statement, a small insight into the turmoil that is rippling through our beloved club from top to bottom.

I have my moments of disappointment and frustration when watching our matches and have commented in the past about Dyche having to endure working with hands tied behind backs restrictions, but this article shows that frustrations are very evident for the people who have to work and plan under these constraints also.

We would all find life a lot easier if we had all the things that we need to accommodate that – bags of money, skilful players, a sound business footing – but we don't. We are enduring our troubles as so many clubs have done before us, once big names in the English Football League, but are now incumbent in the lower divisions.

We, as fans, cannot change the business turmoil within the club, and if we were in the shoes of Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell, we would probably have to make the same decisions as them.

As you can see, they are not happy making them themselves, but they are working with what they have. Solidarity is the only ammunition we have at the moment, our travelling fans are a great testament to that.

Let's get behind all who are concerned with our playing staff and show them they are not alone… We support them! The future is out of our control, we can only hope for a bright one. COYB

Moshiri knew/knows nothing about football and the day-to-day running of a club. He trusted Kenwright after he believed his bullshit and "we" are paying the price.

Moshiri supplied a fortune and Kenwright and his self-serving, hand-picked acolytes spunked it away. We are the sole product of the world's self-proclaimed greatest Evertonian.
He told more lies and spouted more bullshit than Donald Trump, for fuck's sake!

I guess that's what most fans are doing and currently the work is pretty poor, Sean.

£5M a year? That's a million for every league win since last December, nice work if you can get it.

Possession: 35% – Rank 20th
Successful passes: 893 – Rank 20th
Passing accuracy: 75.4% – Rank 20th
Shots on target: 12 – Rank 18th
Shots faced: 27 – Rank =20th
League position: 20th

I'm not a mathematician but...

Evertonians might respect Dyche but they will never love him. Is there actually anything (besides a ground that needed building but is financially crippling us) that makes people want to love Everton right now?

It happened once last season.

Left to his own devices he will right the ship, but the anger and gloom around the club may Eventually sink us all.

People seem to forget what a remarkable job he's done with his squad. And how unlikely it is if we sack him that Moshiri will choose well.

Stats don't tell the full story, but I can't help feeling he's talking bollocks, at least to some degree.

When managers start complaining and addressing fans directly, the end is usually nigh.

Given that we know we have breached the PSR permitted loss limit, that the wage bill was about 92% of income, and we've paid out a fortune to end contracts of inadequate managers, what is it that it wouldn't be fair for us to know?

Don't tell me that our secretive, silent owner was Al Fayad!

The narrative seems different, the confidence within the team seems lower, Dyche himself seems to be prepping excuses in advance with an air of inevitability, almost preparing his own memoriam, looking to protect his reputation for his next job.

I think he is out of ideas.

I think most people would accept the first idea, and whilst not openly singing the praises of the manager, they would respect and accept that he has done reasonably if not very well in extremely difficult circumstances.

I don't subscribe to the second narrative, because it's the main job of the boss to ensure that his players are as well-prepared as is possible and are able to put the hard yards in, out on the pitch.

They did it collectively last season for the most part, but so far this season, have seemed unable to replicate that desire and fight in all of the games.

The supporters aren't asking for Europe or for Dyche's team to play like Man City, they just want to know that every player is giving everything to the cause in what will be a difficult path to retaining Premier League football this season.

The window is closed until January and has been since the end of August, so we're stuck with the squad we have, therefore how would the current financial situation possibly impinge on what happens out on the pitch?

Unfortunately for the club, an illness and injury crisis has hit us just at the wrong time, and therefore judging Dyche on the results and performances of the next few fixtures will likely be unfair, as he is likely to send a patch-work defence out in our colours for at least one game if not more.

I would have been happier if the Manager and the DOF, had made a rallying call to arms from the players and the supporters, rather than make a cheaper and more elaborate version of 'Knives to a Gunfight'.

Knives to a gunfight was a response to being unable to compete with the select richer clubs, and was generally accepted as a truism; the latest rhetoric from the management team, seems to be a response to the unfair demands of the supporters wanting their club rightly to compete with some of the lower half teams, if the management team feel that Knives to a Gunfight II is a truism, we're toast.

Constant takeover speculation and uncertainty.

An absentee owner less reluctant to show his face than John Merrick jauntily sauntering down a Jezebel-strewn Victorian side street with a full roll of Saran wrap and six wet tea towels tightly wrapped round his wheelie bin sized skull.

A director of football who pulls out his pockets and lets them dangle to show how shockingly skint he is, yet still spent nearly £50M on 3 strikers who to date have delivered just 4 Premier League goals between them in 2 years; £17M on a central defender not considered ready to dislodge Michael Keane (who has been a dead man walking for 6 seasons now); and actually stated in an interview yesterday that we're sufficiently stocked at full-back despite it being a problem position for pissing ages.

Unable to fight back to win from a losing position.

Unable to successfully see out a game from a winning position.

Five wins in the league since before the end of last year.

Yet, “Evertonians are Sean's biggest problem at the moment.”

Why? For simply not being satisfied with a long string of piss-poor performances and an ever-increasing list of losses? For daring to doubt he's able to do anything about it? For booing a substitution he made?

Truth is, the lack of leadership, accountability, and the off-field chaos has served to dampen the severe heat he would otherwise have faced for the dismal on-field efforts of his Everton side for long slogs of his tenure and allowed him to survive a run of results that would have seen any other manager in the club's history given their marching orders.

He went 4 months without a win last season, for fuck's sake. The football is atrocious. The entertainment value is near zero. The lack of game management and inflexibility is grating.

Yet, he's not had banners being made calling for his head, or fans at the games giving him loads, he's not had to look around at row after row of empty seats as angry punters stay away in protest.

He's just had people online (or ringing phone-ins all flustered) reacting to continual crap results, with an increasing number amongst them saying his position has to be coming under threat if he fails to turn it around.

If that truly is the biggest problem he faces at the club, then he's thus far been given a far easier ride than he deserves and it's a ‘problem' that can easily be put to bed. Win a few games. It's as simple as that.

Evertonians didn't expect ‘to get into Europe this season' like he ridiculously claimed. They're not unrealistic, entitled or egregiously blind to the baggage currently bogging the club down that is not of his doing. Ultimately, they are looking no further than enough results to stave off the threat of relegation.

The fans are understandably fearful for the future of the club and all it would take to quieten ‘the noise' from them, at least for now, is a couple of wins to demonstrate an appetite for a fight, rather than the recent rolling over with arse in the air.

Unbelievable!!!

It's the ongoing support of Everton's fans home and away that enabled Sean Dyche to achieve the ‘remarkable job' you allude to in the first place. We stayed up in spite of Dyche – not because of him, it was the fans that kept us in the Premier League.

Despite the constant dross being served up by this man, they still follow this club in their thousands, every game. How dare the same unswerving and loyal fans have the temerity to question a Manager who has won 5 games out of 27?

If anything Everton's fans are too patient; any other club would have chased this clown out of town during the previous winless streak.

With due respect, the expectation of the fans is to see us play with more than 29% possession, especially at home to Southampton.

Dyche's formation, tactics and substitutions don't make sense when, in every game so far, our midfield is over-run and he won't change his formation.

We're a mess and found someone who cares. Deal with it, you damaged lot.

Christy, Just watch Southampton play themselves right back to the Championship. It won't be the first time that a manager's ambition drags a club down as he moves somewhere else.

Until we can start spending again, we will be in the same boat if not worse.

The possession stuff is nonsense, we aren't nice on the eye but that is down to the quality of the squad.

I watched King Otto last night on iPlayer; it did remind me in parts of our current plight. A mess turned into a functional team with organisation from a defensive coach.

The club should offer him a new deal. Imagine if we are in this mess come April and Dyche is the boss out of contract 1 month later. Do you think he would pull all the stops out for us for a 3rd time?

I understand the frustration, it's horrible at the minute, but there are signs that we are a better attacking team than last season and, with Branthwaite back, we will be a lot more solid at the back.

I think Dyche was entitled to expect a little more understanding and support from the fans.

Some criticism is legitimate, but the "If-we-can-all-see-it-why-cant-he?" crew have gone into total self-destruct mode. Some of the stuff I'm hearing and reading from these fans defies belief. Those telling us "It's not rocket science" don't even agree with each other. The only thing uniting them is their anger.

I'm really disturbed by people openly expressing a hatred for the man tasked with getting us out o this shit.

If I was in his shoes, I would look at the health of my bank balance and wonder if it's worth spending the next 8 or 9 months trying to swim uphill with my hands tied behind my back?

Especially if I knew that half the people who are meant to be supporting me were queuing up to put their foot on my head to make sure I drowned.

Talk about self-destruct.

So who's to blame for the goals conceded this season, it seems a bit much to pin it all on the manager when he and his staff haven't changed from the previous season.

We keep on selling our better players, you can't hope to do well with that scenario.

I sit and watch my beloved team in silence with a lack of emotion and an expectation and acceptance of poor outcomes. I'm no longer angry or devastated or dismayed when we perform badly and lose.

I shrug my shoulders, agree with our detractors and apologise yet again to my adult sons for indoctrinating them into the current misery.

It's 62 years since my first game. I never ever thought the passion could die. Is there any hope for a revival? I can not see it but please, let it be that I am wrong.

I have a lot of sympathy for the position that Sean Dyche inherited and appreciate what he did over the first part of his tenure but I have always taken issue with some of his team selections and clear favoritism for certain players and his tactics and in-game management.

Now we have an injury and illness crisis, it is putting him under undue pressure which he is not responding well to.

I used to have a notice in my office which said "There are no excuses" but Sean Dyche seems to be rolling them out every opportunity he gets – whether it's the fans, the players' mistakes, or injuries – or the fact we have to comply with PSR.

It is absolutely criminal that he thought he could see this season out with Coleman and Young as full-back cover and neither he nor Thelwell saw the importance of bringing in at least one full-back.

I believe he is now showing the enormity of the pressure on his shoulders and that is rubbing off on the players.

Other than a couple of miracle results I don't see how he can not get the sack.

“Truth is the lack of leadership, accountability and off field chaos has served to dampen the severe heat he would have otherwise faced for his on-field efforts during his tenure and allowed him to remain in his position.”

Yes, that possibly has kept the heat off him but, at the same time, all those things that have kept him here have surely handicapped his efforts to a huge degree as well.

Some want Moyes back as a caretaker. Whilst that might be good for ToffeeWeb to get more posts from John Daley and Eugene Ruane, I don't think it would work.

Moyes would view it as a long-term thing, minus the ambition he had previously. He'd want to change all and sundry – we have neither the finances nor the time.

It would also split the fanbase (again!), although I'm at a loss to suggest a "unity" candidate.

And therefore, being Everton, it will probably happen.

If Everton lose tomorrow, then I think that Dyche being given the sack should be 100% inevitable but, even though I try to remain positive, I think that, when you consider what John says about Thelwell spending £50 million on strikers over the last 24 months, you realise how pathetic Everton Football Club has become.

Maupay was a terrible last-minute signing and was probably bought into the club because we couldn't afford anyone decent. Beto was given to the club with a 12-month grace before we had to start paying for him.

I don't know what we paid for the kid Chermiti, or the terms of the deal, but at least this young player has got a chance and was obviously worth the gamble.

Evertonians should feel proud at what we achieved. Unfortunately, there are no Evertonians in blue shirts or in the dugout.

Hired hands, all of them, who need love and approval that they haven't earned.

I want us to win and I want the manager to succeed. I wanted Frank, Rafa, Carlo, Duncan, Marco, Ronald, Roberto and before them David to succeed.

In my view, we have a very poor squad who need all the support they can get.

What a well written and well thought out post, You encompass the complete mess we are in.

I know some are still loyal to Sean Dyche and given that we escaped relegation despite 2 lots of points deductions, you can understand some of our fans feeling indebted to Dyche.

But his comments about the fans talking about Europe is about as far-fetched as you can get, I speak to many Evertonians and I never heard one talk about qualifying for Europe.

He also suggested that we go from hero to zero very quickly. Virtually every home and away game is sold out, hardly suggests any fickleness in the fans.

Also these supporters are paying to see a poor team badly coached, unlike Dyche who is being paid millions to produce such dross.

I think any support for him amongst the fan base is dwindling very quickly. I would suggest instead of Dyche and his well paid DOF starting the "Oh, woe is me!" have a look around the away end tomorrow and think of those poor fans who have had very little to cheer under your managership and start appreciating them instead of denigrating them.

If you were hoping to sell Everton, then the last thing you would want to do is sack the manager, and if you were in the process of buying Everton, then the last thing you would want is for the man who was selling you the club to sack the manager.

If Everton lose again tomorrow, I think one of them will have to make a decision very soon, so let's hope this doesn't happen.

Maupay may have turned out a bad buy, but he was bought because he was available. Go back to the TW thread reporting his signing and see what posters on this website thought of landing him – they are delighted.

A similar thing happened with Beto. We bought him because we were desperate for a striker and we could get him without paying dosh up front. Again, his arrival was greeted with fanfare by many of those who have become his critics.

It's easy to say we spunked £50M on three strikers but all three were bought under circumstances ranging from desperation to absolutely fucking desperation. Dyche and Thelwell didn't choose to roll the dice. Richarlison was sold and Calvert-Lewin had been injured for 2 years. They had no option but to roll the dice… I'm sure they would have much rather been debating whether to sign Salah or Haaland.

It's much easier to blow £50M when you are looking for credit to sign players nobody else is interested in.

A 6ft-6in central defender would surely be nailed on to start in a Dyche team? Especially with our best centre-back injured, so it sounds like this article has been written to put forward a case for the like-for-like David Moyes, which is what it sounds like to me.

They were my thoughts on spending £50M on three strikers, Dave, only you have explained it a lot better, mate.

I would also agree that the desire to lower the wage bill also constrains which players arrive at the club and also limits the choices of the manager.

However, once a player signs, it's up to the management team to get the best he can from them. Whether you pay £50k or £50M, the question should always be: Is it value for money? Will this player be able to improve the team? I would suggest that some of the signings in the last few years have been No on both criteria.

Fans of Everton are no different to any other fans: when a new signing arrives for whatever cost, we all hope and pray they'll be good for the team. Once they have witnessed a player perform for a requisite amount of games, it's not unusual for them to alter their opinions and call it as they see it.

If we're buying players 'nobody' else is interested in, that perhaps gives the reason why we shouldn't have purchased those particular players in the first place.

The suggestion is about 5 years too late. We squandered £700M gambling on players nobody else wanted when we were loaded.

Now, we don't have a choice.

Being underprepared for the start of the season has definitely been a problem at Everton since “The Hamperman” overspent in the summer of 1998, and off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple of years when Everton have been genuinely prepared since then.

That is £1M for each win then.

We only bought three players this summer. Ndiaye looks good value for £16M. Iroegbunam also looks good value for only £9M. And these are very small fees in Premier League terms.

How is that comparing to the £37M Bournemouth spent on Evanilson? Or the £33M Brentford spent on Thiago? Time will tell.

Perhaps we should be pleased that Dyche and Thelwell didn't listen to calls to replace Calvert-Lewin with the apparently far superior Adebayo — who now has 0 goals in 5 games in the Championship. Not looking such good value at the moment.

Every single purchase at every single club is a gamble, whether you pay huge fees for them or not. It's ridiculous that you think I suggested we buy nobody at all.

Have a look at ToffeeTV's output today and see what they say about what the objectives of any manager should be and what critieria they should be judged on.

I'm sick to death of the list of excuses that many people put forward for so many abject performances and bad results. It's a ruthless sport and failure to pick up points puts all managers at every level under pressure.

There are of course a myriad of reasons as to why we're where we are, but if the current manager doesn't cut the mustard for another half-dozen games, he's gone. If he picks up a fair amount of points, he'll stay and I honestly hope for the latter, because that would be better for the club and that's what I support, not the individual in charge of choosing the team.

I wasn't criticising the summer buys because they haven't been here long enough for me to give an honest opinion on them.

I did say that the wages we can pay and the lack of funds to pay for high transfer fees was a mitigating factor in who we could attract.

That's a strange post.

I can't disassociate the manager, the players and the "club".

Perhaps I worded it badly but what I meant is that the club is far more important to me than the person who happens to be the manager at any given time.

Obviously, to be a football club, we need to have players.

And then, of course, we have the ultimate divisive nonsense from, this time, Mr. Timmins: “in my view there are a lot of contributors to this forum who are hoping that we lose tomorrow”. “I am not one of them”, Mr. Timmin’s reassuringly adds. Good for you CT! Good for you! Having just pulled one of the lowest of low stunts that can be pulled on here (hovering above “are you red shite”?).

Another poster – someone I have deep respect for – does not spare any punches: “Maybe some people are too thick to understand it” (“it” being, I think, Dyche’s plaintiff plea(s): he is a man “more sinned against than sinning”). Another poster dashes in straight after with a confirming “yep”.

Kevin Molloy (21) is gushing in his unmitigated praise for the hard-boiled egg reassuring and soothing us because KM knows: “Left to his own devices he will right the ship”. I do like an unsupported confident assertion now and then but it would be informative and constructive (it might make some of the “damaged” change their minds) if Kevin could share with us what he sees in Dyche, past, present, and future, to make him feel so sure. Can you “smell” it KM? “People seem to forget what a remarkable job he's done with his squad”, Kevin adds. Again, it would be helpful to know what this “remarkable job” has been. Again, Kevin has a podium to reach out to the “damaged”.

‘So, it seems that the majority who post within the “shitty substitutions”/“he’s got to go” and don’t take Dyche’s words or indeed pain for what it is at face value are “thick”, self-destructive and, best of all are a “damaged lot” (I had to share that with a bunch of mates around the world and there was much mirth on four continents).

Perhaps one of the main bones of contention between – how many? – the seven shades of opinion about Dyche is whether or not someone feels that fuller contexts are fair and that he has done good work in these testing circumstances, others who take them into account but consider them to be insufficient grounds, and others who think that Dyche is not really that good a manager when all is said and done. Perhaps Dyche’s mind was flooded with panicky thoughts of debt and ownership when he brought on Young for Beto? After all, Dyche grabs most opportunities to remind us of these “challenges” when we don’t win, which is 24 of 31 matches since December 16, 2023. And now he tells us that there are things that we do not see. But “I can see it all”, he says.

Our Odin invites us to “Judge me by my work”. His main work is to get results. No problems, then, only 9.5% of the season has gone so far (that’s 9.5% we’ll never get back) and it matters little that our club is bottom of the table with the worst record of any team in Europe’s top five league. Nothing to see here, move on, thirteen in four will be fixed by DIY Dyche. It is just a matter of time and patience (AND THE FANS DON’T FUCKING HELP, DO THEY, THEY ARE ODIN’S BIGGEST ENEMIES. FUCKING LEAVING EARLY, BOOING FFS). It’s not just Kevin Molloy (and his ilk), Dyche himself likes plaudits and applause: his “work” is “a current and ongoing success because people only know so much of the challenge” (“I can see it all”).

Perhaps when Dyche puts pen to paper and publishes “Judge me by my Work: a Footballing Life”, the flagellating “damaged” will feel guilt-ridden, struck down by remorse, and do tons of voluntary work because they can see it all now right there on the page. Perhaps not. I wish that in my job I could reassure my students and readers that there are things that they simply cannot see to explain my 24 below-par books out of the 31 that I have published.

Let’s take a walk with Dyche to Tuesday’s post-Southampton presser parade. “The performance was right enough to win the game”. No it wasn’t. I thought that you “can see it all”. And then there was the mysterious “illness” that swept through the camp leaving us without three players and Dyche left to “piece [something] together this morning [and we’re] talking about an hour’s work”, or, in another version, “we had 20 minutes this morning to adjust every player [and] it’s not the same thing when that happens”. It was in the best possible Dyche-speak, “lastminute.com”.

And we must be reminded that the reasons/backgrounds for Tuesday and presumably everything else that has not gone to plan is from “even before my time”. It’s “a longer-term thing”. In fact, it goes way back. The club has had a “very similar start [for] four seasons now”. “Where does that come from?”, a puzzled Dyche asks plaintively. “We can’t change it all overnight”, Odin adds, perhaps forgetting that it is 597 nights since his appointment. “It’s a tough industry to do that”, Dyche laments seeking empathy and sympathy, “but that’s my job” (keep an eye on “industry”, by the way, used three times on Tuesday at least, it might be the new Dyche-word).

“We still have a chance to win games”, Dyche implores. “I still want the team to win”, he says soothingly as the pathos descends like fog. We will, no doubt, win a game in the league before too long.

We must make do with Dyche for the time being. The same “challenges” that have apparently hampered his work will also keep him in his job until there is someone somewhere in the club who can walk him to the door for one last time with a cheque in his hand that we can afford. (Dave C wonders why Dyche does not leave now after looking at his healthy bank balance rather than spend the next 8/9 months swimming “uphill” with his hands tied behind his back: a possible answer might be that Dyche likes looking at his healthy bank balance).

People who would rather prefer not to take Dyche’s words at face-value and believe that he would have been given his marching orders at some point in the spring anywhere else, and who, God forbid, might even believe that Dyche is not a very good manager for multiple reasons, are not thick, self-destructive, or “damaged”. They reasonably ask why Odin does not accept his fair share of blame and responsibility. They reasonably point out his dogged sometimes misplaced loyalties and favourites on the pitch. They reasonably question his substitutions, selections, and set-ups. They reasonably worry about the short- and long-term future of our great club.

“Thank you, cheers, see you later”, Dyche says with a smile as he gets out of his chair at the end of his presser.

“See yer Dychey mate”, the press respond.

Howard Kendall then...

Apologies if you're way too young.

Thelwell talks about difficult circumstances but blows fortunes on absolute rubbish and doesn't fill the most obvious gaps.
They're both charlatans; just not very good at their jobs.

This club has ‘substandard' and ‘incompetence' running through it, it's a poison that is killing us and our only hope is we stave off relegation and get new ownership in to remove everyone that works at Everton and start again.

I'd totally forgotten that! It's worse than I thought!

I don’t know how good Thelwell is but I think when you read what Dave C, says, then you begin to realize how hard their job is right now.

A team that has been constantly fighting relegation are getting outspent by most teams, including the clubs around them who have just been promoted from the championship, and if it’s true that are wage bill is still bigger than most clubs, then this just confirms what type of mismanaged club that both the manager and the DOF, entered when they joined Everton.

Mike Price # 64, Thelwell has absolutely not blown a fortune. In the time he's been here we have the lowest spending of any current Premier League sides, behind a few current Championship sides. The difference with the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford, Forest and Palace is enormous - enough to buy a whole new First XI of £25m to £30m players without needing to sell anyone.

Tony, in the circumstances, I think Thelwell has done a good job with the constraints placed upon him.

I actually get the impression he is running the club.

Dyche is with us at least until the ownership issue is sorted and possibly until his contract runs out at the end of the season.

We can all speculate about who we would prefer, but in reality, he is staying put, so those calling for him to go tomorrow are going to frustrate themselves.

We can all also probably agree Lampard would have taken us down in ‘23 and Dyche managed to keep us up last season despite the points deductions. The only thing keeping this club alive is premiership survival. Make no mistake, we will go into admin if we go down.

The recent results have obviously not been great but we’re only 4 games in. Had we beaten Bournemouth and sat 15th there would still be a load of people wanting not him gone. Fact is a sizeable minority never wanted him as manager and will not be satisfied until he’s gone. That’s just the way it is. Every bad performance or result is magnified by this.

I also agree with what he says about the makeup and balance of the squad being much better than 18 months ago. This is partly due to actually having some stability at manager level. Main remaining weakness being the FB positions admittedly. The wage bill is massively lower than it was.

Let see what happens against Leicester. Hopefully we have some of the walking wounded back. Having Branthwaite out has been a massive loss as well let’s not forget. I also don’t think Tarkowski has been 100% fit since the season start.

One or two wins and we’re suddenly half a dozen places up the league. Patience please. Let see how the next couple of games go.

As for being ‘forced’ to sign Beto, they wanted to buy him in the previous transfer window but were unable to make it happen and returned for him 7 months later. They quite clearly thought he had something to offer, other than being Chesney Hawkes at a time of complete and utter desperation, unless times of complete and utter desperation come around as often as developmental milestones.

The eventual structure of the deal may have suited immediate financial constraints but the player was scouted and targeted on what they thought he could bring to the team, not purely on the basis that they could ‘Klarna’ the c**t.

“When a club like Everton tries to buy you in January and then comes again in the summer, you feel like: ‘OK, they want me for real”.

Did they bollocks want you, Beto. They were forced into the deal against their better judgement by financial circumstance and the fact you were the only forward currently available in the Argos catalogue. Free delivery just sweetened the deal. The fact they paid two to three times what you appear to be worth…considering everytime the ball comes anywhere near you look like the little lass from ‘Logan’ has just lobbed a freshly severed head at your feet….was just one of those things. Think of it as the footballing equivalent of all those people on the dole who deck their kids out in designer gear but then say they’re forced to feed them Doritos for dinner.

(Incidentally, if Kev is patting himself on the back for the sales of Dobbin and Godfrey and, very belatedly, falling in line with PSR, then his Udinese counterpart who pulled in £26m for Beto must still be doing victory laps around a banquet hall full of buxom maidens while being plied with flagons of mead).

Regardless of why they were chosen, those players were still Thelwell’s proferred and paid for (at some point) solution to a long gestating goal scoring shortage and none of the three have (yet) to contribute anything of significance on that front.

If £12.5m per Premier League goal can be blithely written off as unavoidably “rolling the dice” for a club in extremely dire financial straits, then it’s a rolling of the dice on par with Gerald Ratner when he gave a speech publicly declaring his own jewellery items were ropy pieces of wank.

😂🤣 if it wasn't so desperately true.

Dyche is here to stay under Moshiri and the fans will not sustain protest because of the mess Everton are in beyond Dyche.

That would have been a decent response to the claim that we were "forced" to buy Beto. Only I fear you may have gone to great lengths to dismiss a claim that wasn't actually made.

We as a club were forced to sign at least one striker because we had sold Richarlison. Calvert-Lewin was crocked and the striker line at the Finch Farm production plant had stalled.

The money we got when we were forced – there's that word again – to sell Richarlison was never going to be spent on a genuine replacement. Nor was it ever going to be spent in one go. There were wolves at the door and they were not going away.

Everton have been trading world class strikers for substandard replacements since Cottee came in for Lineker, Marcus Bent came in for Rooney and 14 talentless No 10s were signed to replace Lukaku.

Dyche and Thelwell are trying to operate within the confines of the tightest straight jacket of them all. I feel that should be recognised.

He was signed for an initial fee of about €2M (or £1.7M). The remainder, about €10M (or £8.3M) is due on appearances and other conditions.

The reason we bought him is (a) we could afford these very favourable terms; and (b) he has talent but needs development.

If we end up paying that remainder on the fee, he will have proved himself worth every penny.